1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to impellers and to apparatus for use therewith.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been common practive to mount, on a vertical axis, cups of fixed size, many anemometers now in use being so constructed. A primitive device of this character is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 691,082 to Thompson. See also U.S. Pat. No. 303,585 to Morehouse, No. 459,184 to Hawkins, No. 2,224,851 to Lea, and No. 3,020,963 to Hakkarinen.
The use of fixed caps on impeller units increases the wind resistance and decreases the wind acceptance particularly with increasing wind velocity.
Darvishian, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,170 shows the use of cup-shaped wind receptors of fixed size mounted to move from positions of maximum resistance to the wind when moving with the wind to positions of minimum wind resistance when moving against the wind.
Fetty in U.S. Pat. No. 665,891 shows a windmill with hinged wing plates, upper and lower pairs of plates being connected by connecting rods 39, 40, for movement together, with stop flanges 44 limiting opening movement. Governors are provided, including levers 45 with horizontal fulcrums 46 with notched tail pieces 47 and a weight 48. A projection 49 is provided for engagement with the tail piece 47. As the wheels rotate the weights 48, urged outwardly by centrifugal force which will vary with the speed of rotation, by engagement of the tail pieces 47 with the studs 49 will prevent further opening of the wings unless the wind is not violent and the weights are not thrown outwardly by centrifugal force.
None of the prior art devices known to the inventor show impellers either as wind receptors or as agitators in the form of collapsible cups carried on radial arms extending from a vertical shaft and in which the area of the cup facing the fluid, wind or liquid, is varied by the centrifugal force acting therein to collapse or flatten the cups.
None of the prior art devices known to the inventor have individual wind receptors or cups which are open in one condition and are flattened or collapsed in another position to provide less wind acceptance and less total wind resistance.
None of the prior art devices known to the inventor embody collapsible cups with adaptability to different wind velocities if exposed to the wind or the adaptability to conform to varying energy input if employed in a liquid for turbulence.